{"id":53853,"date":"2026-03-27T16:21:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/denvers-catholic-archdiocese-famously-conservative-enters-the-leo-era\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T14:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:48:27","slug":"denvers-catholic-archdiocese-famously-conservative-enters-the-leo-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/denvers-catholic-archdiocese-famously-conservative-enters-the-leo-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver\u2019s Catholic archdiocese, famously conservative, enters the Leo era"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Archbishop
Archbishop James R. Golka blesses members of the congregations during the recessional procession at the end of the Mass of Installation for Golka as the sixth Archbishop of Denver on March 25 at the CoBank Arena at the National Western Center in Denver. (Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the helicopter delivering Pope John Paul II to a Catholic youth festival descended into Denver\u2019s Mile High Stadium 32 years ago, the crowd\u2019s roar, the pilot later told papal biographer George Weigel, created turbulence he hadn\u2019t experienced since being under fire in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Denver was a curious choice to host World Youth Day. A handful of U.S. cities have deeper ties to the Catholic Church, while Denver was seen as not historically Catholic and not particularly religious. Its then-archbishop, later Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, was committed nonetheless to bringing a wave of evangelization to the city.<\/p>\n

Under Stafford and his successors, Archbishops Charles Chaput and Samuel Aquila, Denver became a hub for influential conservative Catholic evangelizing ministries such as the Fellowship of Catholic University Students and the Augustine Institute. When the Pillar, an outlet focused on Catholicism\u2019s internal politics, launched in 2021 with a controversial investigation into Catholic priests\u2019 use of a gay dating app, it did so with financial backing from Denver Catholic donors.<\/p>\n

The three archbishops who fostered this environment are viewed, depending on perspective, as defenders of church orthodoxy or combative culture warriors.<\/p>\n

But as Pope Leo XIV seeks unity and a lower temperature, many U.S. dioceses are still led by bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, nicknamed \u201cGod\u2019s Rottweiler.\u201d Leo\u2019s February appointment of Bishop James Golka to Denver, installed March 25, may signal how the pope plans to navigate polarization.<\/p>\n

Golka, who led the Diocese of Colorado Springs for five years, has already drawn support from across the Archdiocese of Denver, which covers 25 counties in northern Colorado and serves about 600,000 Catholics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one word I would use to describe him is joy,\u201d said Chas Canfield, operations manager of a women\u2019s emergency shelter in Denver who shares Golka\u2019s hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska. \u201cYou never see him not living with the joy of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aquila, who led the archdiocese since 2012, has been widely praised by Catholic leaders. Darren Walsh, head of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver, said Aquila supported the opening of hundreds of temporary shelter units for migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe empowered Catholic Charities to manage the needs of the people we were serving as we saw fit,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cThat was very helpful because it allowed us to be very nimble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma Ramirez, director of Respect Life Denver, said Aquila frequently participated in the group\u2019s anti-abortion initiatives, including a Eucharistic procession around a Planned Parenthood clinic and later celebrating Mass at an anti-abortion symposium for high school students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received a really awesome, supportive letter from him to encourage priests and the lay faithful to participate in our mission,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cThat was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weigel said in an email that Chaput and Aquila \u201cbuilt a model archdiocese, not only in its evangelical energy but in its governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet Aquila also frustrated progressive Catholics with policies toward LGBTQ+ Catholics, including a 2022 directive barring Catholic schools from enrolling transgender or queer students, and his assignment of conservative pastors to historically progressive parishes.<\/p>\n

At Most Precious Blood parish near the University of Denver, a priest appointed by Aquila removed \u201cfeminist\u201d art and eliminated certain songs from Mass. Parishioners later submitted a protest petition with nearly 900 signatures.<\/p>\n

Tensions also surfaced at St. Ignatius Loyola, a historically Black Catholic parish led by Jesuits for nearly a century. After the Jesuits departed in 2023, Aquila replaced them with the Community of St. John. The new pastor, the Rev. Francis Therese Krautter, had reportedly denied Communion at a previous parish to two women wearing rainbow face masks.<\/p>\n

Rosa Salazar, a former gospel choir leader at Loyola, said the parish\u2019s Gospel music was replaced with Gregorian chant and Western classical music. Parishioners later found Black Catholic hymnals discarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just two historically Black Catholic parishes in Denver, and it just seems pretty sad to me that we can\u2019t have Gospel music at Loyola anymore,\u201d Salazar said.<\/p>\n

Neither Krautter nor the archdiocese responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Discontent with Aquila extended beyond progressive circles. In 2024, the archdiocese closed Bishop Machebeuf High School, a majority-minority school in east Denver focused on classical education. Students were encouraged to transfer to St. John Paul the Great High School, which operates independently of the archdiocese.<\/p>\n

Harold Siegel, former principal of Machebeuf, said the school had recently passed its mission assessment and had been approached to serve as a national model. The archdiocese declined to allow fundraising before closing the school, he said.<\/p>\n

Former administrators also alleged conflicts of interest involving members of the archdiocesan finance council who sat on St. John Paul the Great\u2019s board. They said staff were instructed to steer students exclusively to that school.<\/p>\n

Siegel called the closure \u201cdevastating to the apostolic mission\u201d of the archdiocese.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe diocese was abandoning classical education,\u201d said Robert Farris, former dean of students at Machebeuf.<\/p>\n

Neither Aquila nor Golka responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Farris said Golka gives him hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did present himself as very pastoral and talked to all the kids who were getting confirmed in a way that I\u2019d never seen from Aquila,\u201d Farris said.<\/p>\n

Golka has also drawn attention for his response to the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs that killed five people. He called the violence \u201cespecially troubling\u201d and emphasized the dignity of every human life.<\/p>\n

Those who worked with Golka describe a collaborative leader. Andy Barton, CEO of Catholic Charities of Central Colorado, said Golka supported the creation of transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a strong partner in that,\u201d Barton said.<\/p>\n

At a recent press conference, Golka spoke about celebrating Mass in Spanish and supporting immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone shows up at my door in need, as a Catholic I care for them as best as I can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Canfield said he expects a smooth transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe very much falls in love with the people that he\u2019s around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This content is written and produced by Religion News Service and distributed by The Associated Press.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The
The processional makes its way down the center aisle at the National Western Center at the conclusion of a rite of installation for the new Archbishop James Golka on March 25 in Denver. (Stephen Swofford\/The Gazette via AP)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The processional makes its way down the center aisle at the National Western Center at the conclusion of a rite of installation for the new Archbishop James Golka, front center, on March 25 in Denver. (Stephen Swofford\/The Gazette via AP)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archbishop James R. Golka blesses members of the congregations during the recessional procession at the end of the Mass of Installation for Golka as the sixth Archbishop of Denver on March 25 at the CoBank Arena at the National Western Center in Denver. (Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)dur-i-syn When the helicopter delivering Pope John Paul II […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,2423],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-pope"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53853"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53918,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53853\/revisions\/53918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53853"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}